The lunch police have struck again. First, there was the story of a preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School in North Carolina who was given a highly processed, cafeteria lunch containing pink slime chicken nuggets because the school decided that the turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice her mother packed was not nutritious enough.
Now comes the story of an elementary school boy from Newport Beach, California who was suspended from school this week for the kombucha in his lunchbox that school administration said violated the school district’s drug and alcohol policy.
The boy’s mother contacted me 2 days ago the very afternoon her son was suspended in a plea to help her resolve the situation.
The trouble apparently started because the kombucha drink was packed in a glass bottle which is the appropriate container for this healthy, vitamin and probiotic filled beverage. The mother even took care to safely place the glass bottle in a foam sleeve as I’ve demonstrated in my videos which is exactly what I do for my own children so that if the bottle is dropped, it would not break and cause harm. It is important to note that the mother had sent kombucha to school in her son’s lunch many times before with no problem.
When the lunch police noticed the glass bottle safely tucked into the foam sleeve in the child’s lunchbox, they confiscated it. The next morning, the boy was called into the Vice Principal’s office and interrogated about the drink and where he got it. The school even called in the Police Officer assigned to work with all the schools in the area.
The Police Officer told the boy that the kombucha was illegal and very dangerous if he takes any medications – antibiotics or anything. Then, the officer asked the boy point blank if he takes any medicines.
Most outrageously, the Vice Principal told the boy that he may have to transfer out of that school and that she was looking into it. She even tried to enroll him in an alcoholics class for teens! The boy ended up spending the entire day in the school office and then was suspended for 5 days for violating the school’s drug and alcohol policy. The issue was also reported to the Newport-Mesa School District. Lest the school or the district deny the child was suspended or try to spin the story, the boy did indeed SIGN a 5 day suspension form.
It is important to note that these events took place without the school even attempting to test the alcoholic content of the kombucha or conducting due diligence of any kind which would have revealed that kombucha is a healthy beverage similar to apple cider and clearly not the equivalent of beer or wine.
The child’s distraught mother managed to get a meeting with the school’s Vice Principal the next morning who informed her that the Principal had decided to retract the suspension and not pursue the issue further. The child was then immediately allowed to return to school.
Unfortunately, the incident had already been reported to the Newport-Mesa school district so it is possible that the parents of the boy could face additional disciplinary action if the school district decides to pursue the matter.
The worst aspect of this incident is the extreme embarrassment, emotional trauma and shame the child no doubt experienced for being called out by the lunch police and then interrogated like a criminal the next day by school administration and even a uniformed Police Officer!
When I talked to the Vice Principal on the phone yesterday, she acted as if the incident was minor and that everything had been resolved satisfactorily. What? Giving a child the third degree in the school office with a Police Officer standing by and no parent present to defend him is no minor scene!
This incident could have far reaching implications for the child’s emotional state and could even result in bullying or snide remarks from classmates for years to come!
For all you traditional cooking Moms and Dads out there who also send healthy homemade foods and drinks in your child’s lunch, it may prove worthwhile to have a discussion with your children about this story and what to do should school administration ever harass them about the contents of their lunchbox.
I will keep tabs on this story in the coming days and if the Newport-Mesa School District decides to do something ridiculous like pursue disciplinary action against this family, I will be sure to let you all know so that the phone lines can light up and public pressure exerted to restore sanity to the situation.
**Update: Following the publishing of this article, the Newport-Mesa School District issued a press release regarding this incident. Click here for the full transcript and rebuttal.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
🙁
omg, the madness.
That is such crazy BS! I send it in my daughter’s lunch all the time.
The ignorant are the authorities.
Not only that – WHY wasn’t the explanation satisfactory to them?
Shocking and sick how they seized on the opportunity to punish the poor boy.
Oh that makes me SICK! That poor child! I’m so glad I homeschool. Our school’s teacher and principle drink kombucha too;-)
*sigh*
Drug and Alcohol Policy violation… what?
Wow! Best to educate your kids at home, if you can. The only way to make sure they eat well and also learn values that no longer exist in school.
you are right about that…
Might this be a wake-up call to home-educate this child? (I believe so.)
Seriously? Oh my gosh.
Thank you for helping this family, Sarah. What was done to that innocent child was inexcusable, and those responsible are unfit to have any authority over children.
And to think that they never even tested the drink!
What makes it even more despicable is that kombucha is far healthier than a soft drink in a plastic, chemical leeching bottle, which the school would have no problem with.
And using a police officer to intimidate and bully an innocent child? Who only brought the lunch his mother gave him?
Lunch police? Who the heck needs lunch police?
These days, the public schools are often run like prisons in the old Soviet Union. For those who can do it, homeschooling is a great alternative.
It’s time to contact a civil lawyer and sue those involved. They should bring the shock and awe right back to those autogenecidal school nazis.
I agree!! Really school lunches are the ultimate unhealthy food!! We make most everything from scratch in this household. I am a spitfire and trust me the evening news and a lawyer would have been involved. Uneducated, uninformed, foolish bullies!!
love your but luv
Sarah, please let this family know that they are now heroes in the eyes of many!
Inadvertently and unwittingly, they have become the symbol of a nurturing family that takes the necessary steps to nourish and protect their children and provide them the best possible start in life in the face of commercially-driven forces that seek to thwart such efforts.
This family is to be applauded!
Agreed! And not at all surprised at the actions of the “lunch police” and school administrators.
as far as the information i have..pink slim was only used in beef products…so pink slim nuggets was a bit much…and i can see watching what kids are bringing…but at some point we have to be the ones who get to say what our kids eat…rather it be a well balanced meal or lunchable….what one can afford as long as it was enough for nutrional needs…is all good in my book…people compain about how parents r not involved…and your not even allowed to pack a lunch…why bother…your rights have already been take bit by bit….
MSM is typically used in cheaper meat products (such as hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and frozen dinners) which need not retain the appearance, shape, or texture of “regular” meat. In order to satisfy consumer preferences, food producers may utilize additives in MSM-derived products in order to alter their color, taste, or texture.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/msm.asp#gJYCxd9FuZtMsB8M.99
“Pink Slime” is not an additive used in beef products. The processing industry introduced another method of getting more meat off the bones, separating meat from muscle & tendons, etc., reducing waste. I think they use steam. At any rate it lightened the color of ground beef. Some idiot reporter who saw it coined the phrase “pink slime” and all the other idiots sent the phrase around the world in record time. The Humane Society of the United States would like to see all animal use stopped entirely. They are not part of the government and trade on the name of the good local humane societies who do take care of stray animals. They have successfully, severely shut down the pork and chicken industries in two states and are working in all others. In 2011 only .4 of the budget went to animal shelters while 24% went to salaries, 39% went to fund raising!, 2% to pensions and 3% went to lobbying.
Pink Slime is not an additive, it is what you get after the carcass of the pig or fowl has been run through the blender of mechanical separation. You should watch a video on YouTube of mechanically separated meats, though I suggest you do it on an empty stomach and with no children present. Beef is not allowed to be mechanically separated, thanks to mad cow disease, but chicken nuggets, unless labeled 100% white meat, typically are made of the slime. I am not as “natural” a cook as I hope to one day be but I check everything I buy and if it has mechanically separated meat in the ingredients I do not buy it or serve it.
I do believe that the process is used on beef. The “pink slime” misnomer, when it was first coined, shut down some beef processing plants. Nevertheless the product is just as nutritious as original ground beef. I live in the heart of beef country so getting good beef is not a problem. However, in the large cities and the coasts one needs to beware of imported products. For instance the meat from Mexico does not have to undergo the rigorous inspections that our own does, especially for cleanliness. As for mad cow disease, only those animals which have been fed a diet into which other animal wastes have been mixed in are at risk to get it. Canada and Europe allow such practices. The United States does not.
How dare you accuse the officer of intimidation and bullying. I am in law enforcement and have had to respond to situations involving children, luckily none as crazy as this. The officer’s presence was a part of the investigatory process. The officer has a duty to make sure the child is in no danger. The only thing I read, regarding the officer, was that the officer warned the child of the dangers of the drink and asked the child if he was taking any medications.
Since you feel so free to assume the officer was a bully, I choose to assume you are one of those asinine people who threaten children into good behavior by telling them, “that officer over there is going to take you to jail if you don’t start behaving.”
Maybe children would not be “intimidated and bullied” by the presence of the police if parents didn’t turn the police into the enemy.
Anne L,
Pretty much every experience I have had with the police in the past 10 years, when I have been a victim of a crime, the police did not act like my friend. When police are running rampant as paramilitary squads, calling people “civilians” as though they themselves are not civilians and members of a military organization, maybe they wont be construed by an ever growing majority of the population as “intimidating bullies”. When police stop shooting people who are unarmed, then the “thin blue line” does everything they can to cover for their “brother in blue” for victimizing innocent people, then maybe I will take your words as sincere. Until the Police begin to act as men and women of integrity, who sincerely take their oaths to serve and protect the Constitution and the People assembled under it, I will continue to see Police Officers as a front line threat to my physical well being and my God given rights to Liberty.
amen to that,
yeah and thats the sad thing. what happend to the days when an officer of the law would see someone broke down on the side of the road and stop to help them out? ive been broken down and waved at cops to help and they just pass like they got donuts to eat.
Wow, that’s a lot of talk coming from two people who have absolutely NO idea what it’s like to be a police officer. Smh
first of all, how DARE you assume that he wasnt. you and any officer that tells someone something they dont know about is IGNORANT. yes, because you can tell me all day the sky is green and im not going to agree with you. just because a cop said something doesnt mean its true. in fact, ive been lied to more by police officers than anyone else i know. and really….. here is more ignorance.
“Maybe children would not be “intimidated and bullied” by the presence of the police if parents didn’t turn the police into the enemy.”
maybe if they didnt turn themselves into the enemy we wouldnt tell our kids to stay away from them. maybe if cops didnt rape people we would feel safer with them. but no, they murder people. im not saying all cops are bad. but when your standing over a child, putting him in handcuffs because everyone thinks you have something you dont, and then get told “if you make any sudden movements im gonna plant your face in the ground”, tell me i shouldnt tell my children to think of them as the enemy. who do you think you are anyway? God. just because you say something it should go? no your wrong. and God will judge you all, with REAL justice. remember, the Nazis SS and Italian Gestapo werent armed soldiers. they were police. and they are the biggest terrorists out there
You’re comparing police officers to Nazis and Gestapos? Talk about huge disrespect and complete lack of knowledge or regard for what the job of a police officer actually entails. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and educate yourself before you start spouting more garbage, you’re making yourself look bad. And do myself and everyone else involved in law enforcement a favor, don’t call 911 next time you need help. See how well that works out for you.
As far as I’m concerned, police officers might as well be nazis. They are the scum of America (the only bigger scum are politicians). I wouldn’t ever think of calling 911 if I needed help to begin with anyways. Also as far as I’m concerned, most police officers have the IQ of a rock. They push innocent people around like it’s ok just because they have a badge and a gun. I honestly cannot think of a time in my entire life where a police officer has actually helped me, and I doubt I will ever see it happen in the rest of the years I have left on this planet.
@ Annie L
And what makes it okay for a police officer to give any kind of medical advise on the interaction between a drink he doesn’t understand with any medications the child may or may not be taking. That Annie L is asinine. When taking any antibiotics it is wise to eat/drink probiotics to replace the good flora the medication is destroying, which Kombucha is a good source of. And place explain how interrogating a child for 6 hours without his parents present or notified under the clause of “investigatory process” is keeping him safe?? smells like BS to me.
No, the issue is that the PARENT should have been present before the child was interrogated by any school official if they suspected it was Such a heinous offense.
This child should Not have been Suspended before a conference with the Parents, and an opportunity to clarify the whole situation. I understand the concept of ‘in loco parentis’, but the schools are so enslaved by “regulation” that the interests of children’s well-being has long ago become secondary.
A case of much ado about nothing, and the school administrators need to “chill” a little bit, before blowing things out of proportion, which, in their overzealous, political-correctness, “zero-tolerance” policies.
The schools have themselves become bullies.
Disgusting!! The days of Officer Al, the kiddies pal are now gone. I tell my kids that if they need help, find a 7-11 clerk or a fireman. Too many cops hurt people too many times for no reason. The cops refer to us as “turds” or “civilians” for a reason. They can justify abusing the public when they have a “us-them” mentality and lingo. As far as a copper giving nutritional advice? I think the 7-11 clerk would also be a better source!!
Anne, police are bad people. You are a bad person for being one. Police ALWAYS intimidate others. They routinely break the laws they are charged with enforcing, although nearly NEVER prosecute a fellow badged goon. By your own admission this officer was up to no good in that office. Your words “the officer warned the child about the dangers of the drink”. Now, since that drink carries ZERO danger, the officer was either highly ignorant (likely, considering they are ignorant of the laws that they are supposed to enforce, much less matters of health) or he was telling a malicious lie (also likely considering police routinely lie as a daily occurrence).
We get that you are a member of the police cabal, and will always stand up for a fellow badged goon, but you need to recognize that everyone else realizes you and your buddies for the monsters that you are.
Saying someone is a bad person for being a police officer is rather ignorant. That’s the same as saying all teachers and priests are pedophiles or that all vegans are stuck up nut cases; or all men are wife beaters and all women are unfaithful. Two of my friends are police officers, and they are two of the most fair, gentle, and trustworthy people I’ve ever known. Yes, that particular officer was ignorant and did not follow the guidelines, but one officer (or even several or a lot) do not define ALL officers. If you think someone who genuinely upholds the law is automatically evil, then I would question in which illegal activities you’re involved.
maybe if police didnt taser people having a seizure or pregnant women or handcuffed suspects or shoot people in the back 47 times , we wouldnt be afraid. also when is a peace officer a medical professional or a dietician . stepped over the line , like the police almost always do.
Nobody has to threaten their kids with police. You guys do it perfectly fine. While in High School, we were searched, stopped and asked questions every single day – while living in a predominantly white, suburban neighborhood where crime rates were lower than the standard conduct of its police officers. Up until I finally left the states, because I don’t want to raise my kids in a state of constant fear, each time I would get behind the wheel of my car I’d get paranoid and freaked out whenever a police car would enter the field of my vision. I lived in the suburbs and in NYC and had never had a positive experience with the police, EVER. You bully kids in school and in the streets, treating them like enemies, like the bad guys, what sort of mentality do you think these young people are going to develop once they enter adulthood? Each day you feed them fear and hate, and it is much worse in the inner city areas. The presence of a police officer in a principals office, which I had also been subjected to, is absolutely terrifying to a minor. Abuse on the part of the police in the states is uncanny, only in a dictatorship or under a communist regime have I ever witnessed such blatant disregard for human rights as I saw in the states.
Where did you go to find peace for your children and yourself?
While your experience, if its not being overly dramatized, is terrible that doesn’t make every single police officer a bad person. If you think officers abusing their power only happens in the states, you couldn’t be more wrong. That whole statement is rather ignorant of you.
Wrong. In my opinion one person speaks multitudes for the whole group. Once again I’ve never come across a friendly police officer either. You’re all gestapo-esque assholes in my opinion until one of you proves me wrong (which will never happen).
Maybe if the police didn’t behave like enemies sometimes they wouldn’t be looked at in such manner:
http://www.upworthy.com/meet-the-17-year-old-who-blew-the-lid-off-racial-profiling-with-his-ipod?g=2
The issue wasn’t having a police officer there. Nor was the issue what the police officer asked.
The issue is a) they did not wait for a parent before questioning the boy…from my understanding a child has to be 18 or emancipated before he can be questioned with out a parent/guardian unless the parent permits it.
b) the officer did miniscule if any research on kombucha, which is foolish at best. Accusing someone of something when they don’t understand the components involved in the situation is also foolish.
I don’t have a problem with police officers in general…though I do have problems with some police officers in specific…and they do cast a bad light on the whole…this officer didn’t handle the situation in the best way. Neither did the school.
Our schools need to stop handing out judgements and punishments before fully investigating the situation and all its components.
As for this lunch police crap, they need to keep out of it unless they see a kids eating only 2 candy bars and a pack of nutter butters for lunch. Or only 3 lettuce leaves. other then that it isn’t their business.
“The Police Officer told the boy that the kombucha was illegal and very dangerous if he takes any medications — antibiotics or anything. Then, the officer asked the boy point blank if he takes any medicines.”
The police officer was not quietly standing by while the school administration conducted their investigation. If this quote is true, then s/he was violating the law him/herself by practicing medicine without a license! Not to mention violating the kid’s medical privacy. And a cop should know better about interrogating a minor with no guardian present.
s/ 2 cops in the family, so I know how they are SUPPOSED to behave — save your righteous indignation for someone who is buying it!
mr policeman you are the enemy
Police should have refused to enter this outrage. The police should not have talked with the child without a parent present. Police that take part in B.S. like this ARE bullies and its high time you POlice realize it for yourselves and that many many people are starting to understand this.
Was there an injury? No. Was property abused or destroyed (other than the student’s property)? No. Was there a threat of harm? No. Was there bullying and intimidation by the authorities in collusion (police, school)? Yes. Facilitated by police. And now, these bizarre actions are justified by blogger-comment police. ENOUGH.
If police are so un-busy that they have time for calls like this, then there are clearly way too many of them.
In addition, in all this mess, why didn’t someone just call the parent and ask what the drink was? Why are police and schools acting like they are the parents?
I can’t believe anyone would send their child to these child prisons they call schools.
This is very disturbing. That poor child was simply having lunch, and was essentially arrested! I seriously hope there are repercussions for all these people so they are made aware.
In California, the kombucha I purchase is classified as a beer and cannot be sold to those under 21, because of its alcohol content. Some kombucha vendors, to avoid this law, water down the product.
Schools should not be expected to do alcohol tests on beverages; it makes sense to ban all alcoholic beverages, including kombucha. If parents want, they can serve kombucha to their kids at at home, just as they can serve wine or beer.
This whole fake uproar is about demonizing public schools. Did you see the 15 yr old who just invented a 5 second, 3 cent test for cancer in the news? He was inspired by his public high school science class.
I love Kombucha, but schools have the duty to ban alcoholic beverages. I make my own also.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/26/court-blocks-suspension-of-student-who-refused-to-wear-location-tracking-chip/
since when do public schools have the right to violate your constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion 25/7 and monitor you 24/7?
I totally agree with Stanley, what was done to children who are innocent are totally inexcusable.